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Attack on U.S. Aircraft Foils Evacuation in South Sudan

WASHINGTON — Three United States aircraft flying into a heavily contested region of South Sudan to evacuate American citizens were attacked on Saturday morning and forced to turn back without completing the mission, American officials said. Four service members were wounded, one seriously.

The United States had been evacuating Americans from the country, where a political crisis exploded in violence last week, for several days, but the mission on Saturday was the first into rebel-controlled territory.

The Special Operations forces took off from Djibouti heading for Bor, the capital of Jonglei State, where some 14,000 refugees were holed up in a United Nations compound surrounded by armed young men, American officials said.

As the aircraft, tilt-rotor CV-22 Ospreys, which can fly like an airplane and land like a helicopter, approached Bor around 10 a.m. local time, they “were fired on by small-arms fire by unknown forces,” the military said in a statement.

One American official, who asked not to be identified because he was discussing military operations, said the pilots had believed they were flying into a generally “permissive environment.”

The Obama administration did not say how many Americans remained trapped in Bor, the extent to which they were in danger or what options President Obama might be considering to evacuate them.

Mr. Obama, who is vacationing in Hawaii, was briefed on the situation in a conference call Saturday with Susan E. Rice, his national security adviser, and other senior aides.

The White House said in a statement afterward that Mr. Obama had reaffirmed the importance of continuing to work with the United Nations “to secure our citizens in Bor” and “underscored that South Sudan’s leaders have a responsibility” to support efforts there and in South Sudan’s capital, Juba.

The crisis in South Sudan began last week when its president, Salva Kiir, a member of the majority Dinka ethnic group, asserted that he had uncovered a coup and detained 11 people, including former ministers. Mr. Kiir claimed the coup had been backed by former Vice President Riek Machar, who is a member of the rival Nuer ethnic group.

As the violence grew, Mr. Obama sent 45 American troops to protect the embassy in Juba. The United States also organized evacuation flights that have already ferried at least 450 American Embassy personnel, other Americans and some citizens of other nations out of the country.

As attacks have racked South Sudan, however, there has been mounting concern about the safety of 35,000 civilians who have sought sanctuary at United Nations peacekeeping bases, as well as the safety of the peacekeepers themselves.

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About 2,000 armed youths have surrounded the United Nations base in Bor. It has been difficult for American officials to get in touch with local rebel commanders there to establish what areas they might control amid signs that the fighting may be escalating into a broader ethnic conflict.

“It is an unpredictable situation,” said a State Department official, who asked not to be identified because he was discussing diplomatic efforts. “We are deeply concerned, and we are trying to do everything we can to get our American citizens out.”

Flying the Americans out from the nearby airport was not an option, officials said, since it was under the control of a military officer who has broken with South Sudan’s president.

American officials said they had not thought that the mission would be unduly risky, because they believed that helicopters had been flying to and from the United Nations compound in Bor without incident. But a United Nations official, who asked not to be identified, said a United Nations helicopter that was extracting agency personnel and South Sudanese people from Yuai, also in Jonglei State, on Friday was fired on.

The United Nations peacekeeping force in South Sudan includes about 6,800 soldiers and 700 police officers.

A Pentagon official said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was reviewing “further options” presented by Gen. David M. Rodriguez, the head of the United States’ Africa Command, to support the humanitarian mission in South Sudan. He did not provide details.

Secretary of State John Kerry called Mr. Kiir shortly after midnight Friday to discuss the need to avoid ethnic violence, and the safety of American citizens there. Mr. Kerry also sent Donald Booth, a special envoy, to South Sudan to encourage a diplomatic solution.

“The situation in Bor is very dire,” said Catherine Howard, the deputy head of the United Nations’ humanitarian affairs office. “Humanitarians are unable to operate safely. People have been uprooted. There is looting.”

Analysts and aid officials warned that the fighting could represent the beginning of a very dangerous ethnic conflict in South Sudan, which was born after one of the late 20th century’s bloodiest wars.

“Day by day we are moving closer to a civil war,” said Casie Copeland, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, a research and advocacy institution. “We are seeing reports of horrific ethnic violence.”

Conditions inside the United Nations base in Bor were deteriorating, she said, and the South Sudanese civilians and foreign aid workers taking shelter there were in grave danger. “We have the U.N. in very tenuous positions, protecting a large number of civilians with a very small number of troops,” she said.

Troops from neighboring Uganda and Kenya have started to arrive in South Sudan, ostensibly to help protect civilians and restore order. But in a region where civil wars easily become regional conflicts, analysts expressed worry that the addition of foreign troops to the mix, particularly if they take sides, could make things worse.

Reporting was contributed by Isma’il Kushkush from Khartoum, Sudan; Lydia Polgreen from Johannesburg; and Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker from Washington.

A version of this article appears in print on December 22, 2013, on Page A8 of the New York edition with the headline: American Aircraft Are Attacked in South Sudan. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe